The continuation of the combat was stellar, and Leone demonstrated incredible trust in her junior officers’ abilities by turning the battle over to them in the middle... but to their credit it worked like a charm.

Incredible, but not without merit. She's served with Wilson enough and knows Greg well enough, so I don't think it was entirely outside the realm of possibility. Besides, she was on the bridge and could resume the conn at any time she felt it was getting out of hand.

Gibraltar wrote:

One question, however. How did Farragut use her tractor beam on the Tristnor ship with the starship’s shields up?

In the early days of TOS/TNG, it seemed like this was a cardinal rule, right? In DS9/VOY this rule kept getting broken without much pause. I figured, someone somewhere developed a deflector grid that allowed a heavy graviton beam like a tractor to operate on a one-way basis through the shield perimeter. Because the rule doesn't apparently exist anymore.

Gibraltar wrote:

Ariel showed just how sensitive she is to criticism of Leone, and just how far someone can push her in regards to the captain’s dedication to their friendship. And just how close are those two, anyway?

Yeah, Ariel's real touchy about people disparaging Leone. Before you get any ideas, no... they're not lovers, now or before. :P Leone's married to John and has a son, Dominic (who made an appearance in TQB2, btw).

As for Ariel, in the next episode, "Milk Run," we find out that Ariel's a mustang officer. Originally enlisted and then applied for OTS and got her commission that way. Leone's family had something to do with that. Actually, I won't say much more because there's a scene with Kincaid and Ariel that I think will explain a little bit more about their relationship. There's a line that Guinan says about her relationship with Captain Picard: "It goes beyond friendship. It goes beyond family." And as Forrest Gump says, "That's all I'll say about that." For now I'm really pleased with Milk Run, because I finally have the crew grooving, even with the new additions.

Also, watch out for Commander Hargreaves.

The big episode with Leone/Ariel's relationship is "The Better Part of Valor," the sixth episode of FSA. It's an episode that explores a little bit of the days of Ariel and Leone on the Victory under Captain Zimbata. Cameo appearance by La Forge and Susanna Leijton (in the outline, at least... no telling how the final product will turn out). I'm looking forward to writing this one, because it also tells how Leone met her future husband.